Honest guys meditation for anxiety
Guided Meditation For Stress And Anxiety To Help You Relax
You feel uneasy, worried, and afraid of the future. These issues hinder your performance and make it difficult to enjoy your personal life. In these turbulent times, the rates of stress and anxiety are skyrocketing among people. However, at the same time, mental health awareness and better lifestyle choices are picking up pace. One essential practice to help you relax is guided meditation for stress and anxiety.
Best Youtube Channels With Guided Meditations For Stress And Anxiety What Is A Guided Meditation For Stress and Anxiety?Guided meditations are usually presented in an audio or video format. These meditations tools, such as visualization, imagery, and instruction, help you reach a meditative state effortlessly. The term meditation has acquired different meanings, but essentially it refers to a state of mind with higher consciousness. In this state, one is more detached from their mental processes(thoughts, emotions, etc.
) and able to focus on the present reality. Visualization, in particular, guides you to focus on positive outcomes and improves your mood through imagination. Instructions on meditation help guide your focus, for instance, from your breath to the expansion of your lungs.
Research by Sophie. B and others showed that mindfulness meditation apps and accompanying meditations could improve well-being and make people less distressed. These effects were recorded over time, and many other studies also support anxiety reduction through meditation.
For instance, a study by Kim Rod published in the National Library of Medicine recorded the benefits of mindfulness meditation for a year. The study monitored 47 patients who showed improvements in depression, anxiety, dealing with chronic pain, and global change.
Another meta-analysis by David W.O.J showed that transcendental meditation is especially effective for patients with higher anxiety.
This mediation involves detaching yourself from anxiety and focusing on a mantra or performing other yogic rituals to achieve self-realization.
While guided meditation for stress and anxiety, it is far from a perfect or complete solution to these issues. The following alternatives(or supplements) can help boost your mental health.
Breathing exercises
Meditation is focused on bringing your attention to the present moment. Breathing exercises are one of the easiest ways to meditate. In these exercises, you can focus on breathing in, expanding your lungs, breathing out, and releasing your diaphragm. Pranayama is one yogic breathing exercise that focuses on breath control. The term “prana” in yoga refers to life, hinting that breathing is intimately connected to life. By focusing attention and learning to regulate your breath, you become better able to control your emotions and maintain your composure.
Distraction
Dialectical Behavior Therapy(DBT) is a form of CBT that focuses on dialectical thinking and mindfulness. It has successfully treated many mental illnesses, and distraction is one of the tools DBT employs. There are different forms of distraction, but they all focus on removing your attention from the source of your anxieties to the present moment. You can remember the distraction tool through the synonym “ACCEPTS”
Activities – Positive activities
Contribute – Helping people or working for welfare in your community
Comparison – Comparing yourself to people with more challenging circumstances
Emotions – Finding a sense of happiness or humor in your situation
Push away – Removing the cause of your stress away from your mind and focusing on something else
Thoughts – Diverting your mind from the cause of stress
Sensations – Having an intense sensory experience to distract yourself, for example, taking a cold bath.
Self-Validation
Validating your emotions, and looking at them objectively, also known as self-validation, is another vital skill in DBT.
By validating your feelings and allowing yourself to experience them, you may find that your stress and anxiety have disappeared. This solution helps you understand yourself and grow closer to your emotions. Hence, it is best to self-validate whenever you have the mental resources.
Now that you’ve learned how guided meditation for stress and anxiety can help you let’s look at the different sources for said meditations.
1. Online MusicMany different music genres provide a relaxing and engaging vibe. Some in particular, like lo-fi, can help take your attention away from your worries without causing or increasing mental burdens. Music therapy has various benefits and is recognized as a clinical supplement or, in some cases, a partial replacement for talk therapy or other forms of treatment. It can increase concentration and focus, stimulate creativity, improve physical mobility and sports performance, uplift your mood and help you fall asleep.
More importantly, it can also help relieve stress and anxiety.
Applications like Calm, YouTube, Headspace, Meditation Apps, and other lifestyle apps can guide you to a less distressing life. Many of these applications come with a schedule and a wide variety of selections to help you practice guided meditation. They often also contain tips, workable steps, and insights to help you manage your energy better.
3. PodcastsMany podcasts cater to providing guided meditations or calm-down visualizations. As these are audio-only mediums, they work best when you are meditating with your eyes closed. Conversely, you can also use these podcasts when practicing mindfulness. Spotify is one of the most widely used podcasts or audio aggregator platforms where you can access most of the podcasts available online. Or you can refer to the podcast website for a more personalized experience.
4. WebsitesMany websites offer resources that help you engage in guided meditations for stress and anxiety.
Resources can also help with deep relaxation, sleep, and study practices. However, the best and most preferred of these websites is YouTube. With the large assortment of videos, including stunning visuals and guided meditations, it’s the best option for anyone considering guiding meditations. Following are some channels and videos to help you meditate better.
There are a lot of good youtube meditations you can discover, but subscribing to a channel that provides them makes this process much more manageable. Here are our top picks for meditation channels to help you relieve stress and anxiety.
1. Headspace: As discussed above, Headspace is an app, website, and multi-platform organization that helps people through meditation. Here you can find tips, guided meditations, and other resources for better sleep, reduced stress and anxiety, and better mental health.
Headspace2. Calm: Calm is an organization with the mission of making the world happier and healthier through… you guessed it, the power of calm.
The benefits of meditation have been well-researched and documented in various trials. And calm, among many others, has harnessed these benefits to support mental health worldwide.
3. The Mindful Movement: This channel supports a movement and a community with the mission to bring people closer to their inner calm. You can explore their products and platform to become more mindful. Or keep to their guided meditations if you’re going to reduce distress.
The Mindful Movement4. Great Meditation: As the name suggests, this channel is focused on providing meditations. They already have a large amount of content uploaded and upcoming videos(almost five every week).
Great Meditation5. The Honest Guys: This channel provides “guided visualizations” to help people relax, sleep, or meditate effortlessly. The recordings of these guided videos are free for all and made with care and a mission to help people.
The Honest GuysTo get started with guided meditation for stress and anxiety right away, here are some of the top-ranking videos you can access right now, classified based on their duration.
1. 5-Minute Meditation for Stress and Anxiety
2. 10-Minute Meditation for Stress and Anxiety
3. 15-Minute Meditation for Stress and Anxiety
4. 20-Minute Guided Meditation for Reducing Stress and Anxiety
Conclusion
Guided meditation for stress and anxiety is a tool that can help you become less distressed and enjoy life further. However, many people struggle with overwhelming anxiety or stress that is difficult to handle. If you or someone you know is suffering from stress that makes it hard to function normally, it is advisable to opt for therapy. Here is a list of the top five affordable online therapy platforms to help you do the same.
For more information and advice on stress, anxiety, and meditation, subscribe to Your Mental Health Pal. You can also check out our premium products here.
The 9 Best Free Guided Meditation Videos for Stress
In need of a good guided meditation? It’s hard to find quality apps and videos that aren’t locked behind a paywall.
Fortunately, however, these free guided meditation videos on YouTube come from trusted sources who can effectively lead experienced meditators (and anxious newcomers) to experience calmness and relaxation through meditation.
Below, after watching hundreds of videos, we spotlight some of the best guided meditation videos on the Internet right now.
All of these guided meditations work best when listened to on headphones, but if you want to play them out loud from your computer or device, that works, too! (Headphones just allow for a more immersive experience.) We hope they bring you some comfort when you need a moment of calm.
Now sit back, take a deep breath, exhale, and enjoy!
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Nice, Long Meditation For Feelings of Overwhelm
This lengthy, thorough guided meditation is best used by experienced meditators who need a pick-me-up.
This is a classic body-scan visualization that really gets in tune with present moment awareness and loving energy for the self.
If you’re looking for some fast, quippy anxiety relief, read our scrollable rundown of 10 Anxiety Hacks Every Nervous Person Should Know.
Related: Read this Op-Ed on the Difference between “Self-Care” and “Self Comfort”, and why you need both.
Good Beginner Guided Meditation
This “Back to Basics” guided meditation video sounds a bit “woo” at the beginning, but the gentle rain sounds (and the host’s nice Australian accent) make for a soothing meditation backdrop.
If you’re new to meditation, just know that the benefits are cumulative. The more you meditate, the easier it becomes. Harvard Medical School has even done studies that prove regular meditation is more beneficial than a vacation.
The idea is to spend a few minutes in meditation every day, which will improve your mood over time.
Just as we exercise our bodies, meditation is like exercise for the mind, which helps it become more focused and sharper. And much like exercise, it’s never too late to start!
Good for Insomnia
This super long meditation is very helpful for those struggling to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. This extended 2+ hour narrative is super gentle, and the narrator’s voice is so calming that the way it lulls me to sleep is almost like a Pavlovian reaction.
She tells the story of a shepherd– a nice spin-off of the classic imagery of “counting sheep”– which goes on and on until, frankly, you either fall asleep or finish the video, in which case you can just start the video back up again.
Because the tempo of the meditation is in concert with binaural beats, you can drift in and out and the meditation won’t wake you up (even if you’ve fallen asleep and it’s still playing).
Still struggling to get those ZZZs? Read our guide to the best, safest herbal remedies for insomnia, including which teas help promote the most restful sleep. Also: these DIY gummy “sleep vitamins” will help you get better rest, as well.
Good For Pain Management
This excellent guided meditation for pain management explains the theory of using meditation for pain management very well. It’s worth listening for the intro alone! Then, the gentle visual guidance that follows is very insightful.
This visual meditation is good for managing everything from back pain to chronic pain to pain stemming from athletic injury. Regularly listen to this guided meditation video and find yourself transported to a place of more ease. (Both physical and mental.)
Also: If you or someone you know is experiencing chronic neck and shoulder tension— or pain in the upper back– these 5 chiropractor- and physical-therapist-approved stretches can help.
Good for Acute Anxiety (In the Middle of a Panic Attack)
Panic attacks can be scary, especially if you are new to them. Fortunately, guided meditations and slow breathing can help provide some relief in the moment.
If you’re currently experiencing a panic attack or acute stress, you might want to read this.
Also: Learn more about why citrus fruits induce an immediate feeling of calm— and how they can help you calm spiraling thoughts in the future. Icing your wrists can also help. (<—Read more about the science behind that here.)
Good for Passing Time on Planes, Trains, While Sitting in Airports, etc.
But, the central mantra of this guided meditation video– “I attract love, joy, and peace”– is one that both spiritual people and agnostics can get behind.
(Plus, the footage is beautiful and very transporting.)
If you’re looking for a meditation that literally transports you to a beautiful place, this is a good place to start!
Related: Sarah Blondin’s “Honoring Life” Meditation is a Thing of Beauty.
Good Meditation for Overcoming Guilt
This guided visual meditation video for guilt is a relaxed, not-too-intense version of a classic memory rewriting meditation.
A “rewrite” meditation is exactly what it sounds like: it’s a common technique for dealing with guilt, sadness, or past trauma in which you imagine the negative scenario in your mind, and then “rewrite” a more happy ending, adding in details that you wish you could have had in the moment.
In the end, it emphasizes acceptance.
We love the calming nature sounds used in the background of this guided meditation video.
The Honest Guys have a very soothing vocal delivery.
Meanwhile, the contemplative background music is nice for those who like a more active soundscape for their meditations.
Good for a Cluttered Mind
This is soothing visual meditation might sound a little woo-ey at first, but once the guided meditation starts, it’s a pretty clear narrative to follow.
We like the visualization employed in this video– it’s an exercise in “organizing your thoughts” that can be helpful in times of overwhelm, such as when you’re experiencing racing thoughts at night.
Related: A scrollable shortlist of 25 Research-Backed Tips for Meaningful Anxiety Relief.
Good For Resetting on Your Lunch Break
Nothing is as good for daily productivity and stress management as taking 10 minutes to meditate during your lunch break.
Calm.com’s free 10-minute “Be Present” meditation is just the thing.
It’s not too spiritual, yet not too formulaic, with plenty of soothing nature sounds that encourage your mind to wander and reset. (Normally, you have to pay for these guided meditation videos. Fortunately, this one is free. 🙂 )
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Related: These are the 6 Best Free Meditation Apps on the Market Today.
Suffering from anxiety and stress in your day-to-day life? Read our Comprehensive Guide to Anxiety Relief: 25 Research-Backed Ways to Keep Calm and Carry On.
About cleansing and informational meditation
As they say, on the orders of workers, I tell about my meditations.
For a long time I could not teach my child to meditate. She considered meditation nonsense, glitches. And I was among her friends known as "... nutty mother." And once it was so hot that at least throw yourself at the walls. I put her in meditation. I had to go through the process, for the first time in my life I played coach, but it went well.
Daughter fancied a doorway. Dark on an even darker wall. And behind him was something that - not exactly clear, but very scary. She sat and sweated with horror while the long, gloomy corridor became shorter and shorter, and then this opening was already nearby, and it was as if she flew through it. The next second I hear: “Damn, there’s nothing there! Some nonsense! But before that, she was afraid of dark doors from the age of three. nine0003
A side effect of strashno.com was that she got hooked on meditation and declared me a "cool mom". It turns out that for this it was only necessary to teach her to meditate.
It is said that there are about 18 thousand different types of meditation. I don't know if this is true. I usually use cleanser. It is the most cruel, but from the point of view of the accumulated problems, the most convenient. In fact, this can be considered cognitive therapy, only without a coach or psychologist nearby.
Sit down or make yourself comfortable in any way. In women, the dominant side is considered to be the left, in men, the right (for left-handers, vice versa). Place your hands folded on your stomach about two fingers below your navel, with your dominant hand on top. Fold your legs so that the dominant one is on top .
You don't need lotus positions, just enough to cross them comfortably. This is necessary to close the field. By the way, this allows you to conveniently disguise yourself and meditate anywhere.
At one time, strashno.com recommended me to find the center of human balance. It is just on the line, if from a point somewhere one or two fingers below the navel, draw a line to the spine . Catch him there. When you stumble, you will immediately be transferred to where you have the most pain. However, if somewhere it is desperately painful, then you can immediately go there. nine0003
We close our eyes . If you, like me, know how to switch off from sight, that's great, but a glassy fixed look also attracts attention.
Who needs more chewed recommendations, read Zhikarentsev. I do not remember in which book he expounded, but it was quite detailed.
The main thing is not to think about anything in words. Renounce . This is usually easier said than done. But there is one trick, and it is that the human mind can only concentrate on two objects with full dedication. As an example, you can clench your fists and strashno.com focus on both at the same time. It will immediately become quiet in the head, all internal dialogue was blown away due to lack of resources. In the process of meditation, you also need to focus on two things, but not on your fists, but on your feelings and on what has emerged from the darkness in front of you. nine0003
Why should the talker be turned off? Because she spurs on anything. For example, instead of working through a resentment from your spouse, you will begin to inflate it, at the same time justify yourself, and as a result, instead of relieving yourself, you risk coming to the conclusion that all men are goats, and women are goats.
And this is not at all what we are striving for.
Then we just sit and watch that will come by itself. What will crawl to you? Anything. There will be images, pictures, sounds, memories, sometimes smells and tastes. It can be scary, painful, funny, and anything at all. Worst of all, by the way, if strashno.com is euphoric, because it gets in the way. However, what will come out, then we will work out. nine0003
In several places on the Internet I saw recommendations to ask yourself questions, such as “what does this taste/smell/look/color/age/consistency”, etc. This is only necessary at first and to tune in. With experience, this is no longer required. For example, I just sit and look at how it is.
It is important to remember that everything that comes out is not someone's unknown mental and psychic waste, but one's own undigested pieces of memories that at one time got in one's throat. That is, somewhere at some point you felt very bad, you couldn’t bear it and “pushed” what you didn’t feel into a corner somewhere.
Kind of like a hostess putting leftovers in the fridge “for later.” But a modern person never has time for these “leftovers”, and one does not want to pull them out and chew them again. Moreover, strashno.com, these memories were never particularly “tasty” from the very beginning. And often we don’t initially intend to “eat up” this at all. nine0003
Meanwhile, every memory, thought, pain should have told or shown you something in due time. Something to teach. Sometimes it's something big. Sometimes it does not mean anything at all or has long been irrelevant. But you didn't listen to them, and now they won't leave until they get what they want.
We are to some extent guilty before our own memories for our inattention to them, for our unwillingness to experience them. Why do you think good memories fade quickly, while bad ones go on and on and on and on and on and on? Yes, because the good ones we greedily live to the ground, and we dismiss the “bad” ones like dung flies. Now you have to listen to each offended memory “by the piece”.
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Just waiting for him . Here it comes out of the darkness and approaches. Approaching. Approaching. Damn, strashno.com, how scary… We look at him, crawling. We are afraid, but we do not turn away. It is our own and will not harm us. And in general, this is only a picture, an image, and not reality. Reality in the brain is like a bullet in the head, but it's not the same as meditation. So we sit, fear and watch.
At some point you may want to cry, laugh, punch someone in the face. Let's do it. If possible, then without breaking away from meditation. If the number does not work, then we leave the meditation, beat the pillows, swear, etc., in short, we do what we want. If there is a desire to swear, we only say what we want to say, i.e. abuse in any form. We do not add any verbal circles. It is highly desirable not to let the internal dialogue stir up the talker. nine0003
By the way, if, for example, on the one hand, you focus on a violent desire, say, to kill your mother for disgracing you strashno.
com in front of your loved one, and on the other hand, on how pleasant it is to beat a pillow in anger in anger, then this is same meditation. You didn't get out of it. We kill the pillow, wipe the furious snot and return to sitting on the couch in the same comfortable position.
What happens as a result? Your negativity is getting closer and closer. And if you do not run away in terror, sooner or later it will pass through you. Then you suddenly find out what the hell it was all about. Plus, an added bonus is a sharp feeling of relaxation, which you can’t get even when going to the most expensive spa. nine0003
There are nuances:
First of all, you will have to give up morality, morality, disgust, condemnation and the opinion “how I should be”. Because it's all superficial and has nothing to do with real memories. If you condemn, then you suppress, and this strashno.com means that the result will be negative. To succeed, you will have to arm yourself with the approach of a psychiatrist: everything that is natural is not ugly.
Even if this is a memory of how you ate boogers from your nose as a child. Or participated in a drunken gangbang. nine0003
Secondly, if you haven't slept much or have been freaking out a lot “in general” for the last few days, then instead of meditating you will fall asleep. Not for long. It usually lasts fifteen to twenty minutes, but the result is simply magical. It's like you slept well for several hours. Passing out for “six hundred minutes” will not work. At least in the decades that I have been meditating, I have never succeeded. But if you need to go to bed, then falling asleep will be much easier.
Thirdly, do not chase images. If you are behind them, then they are from you. Memories should be treated like milk. They say it always boils faster if you pretend to look out the window at strashno.com. It's the same with images. Need to relax. This is an essential point for informational meditation. In any person there is a very powerful protection against pressure, developed over the years.
And it is built on the principle of "action is equal to reaction." Instead of overdoing yourself, it is better to pretend that you are running away and let the image chase you. nine0003
Fourth, after some time you will discover another possibility. You can make life much easier by simply “allowing” yourself to feel what you feel. It's not as easy as it seems. As soon as a conflict sets in, we are all drawn to suppress unnecessary negativity, feelings, etc.
As an example, my daughter doesn't like being stared at. And no wonder, with her model appearance, the guys just twist their necks. And the guy who crashed into the ditch along with the bike, because he was trying to go forward and look back - this is generally strashno.com a classic of the genre. But she's had enough of it. Gradually, the fear developed that again the whole crowd would thrash, start pestering, etc. nine0003
After she learned to meditate, she began to detect the moment when irritation turns into panic, and allowed it to be.
This is the main thing. Almost any negative, if it is not super-heavy, if it is left without nourishment with words and does not fight, will burn out in minutes.
Informational meditation is based on the same cleansing one.
You ask a question at the beginning of the meditation, for example: “What should I do with Vasya?” and wait for an answer. As an alternative - score on the answer and go to meditate on another topic. nine0003
Alas, for most people, "waiting for an answer" means trying hard to squeeze a result out of its source. In this case, that means you won't get anything.
Information behaves like any other image in the process of meditation: strashno.com walks by itself. The whole point of cleansing meditation, for example, is to let loose what has been suppressed. Chasing after her is useless and even harmful. Still run away. There is no point in getting angry either. The fact is that this is not information or an image that is “harmful”, but you are playing cat and mouse with yourself: you put pressure on yourself and defend yourself from yourself.
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There is no need to worry that there, in Space or somewhere, there is no answer, it is unknown, or you will be told nonsense on purpose out of pure sadism. The fact is that you are not communicating with someone there, but asking yourself a question.
Remember that your field is closed to you. Your subconscious is connected to the Cosmos, so if the answer comes, it will come through yourself . And you always know everything about yourself. Your subconscious is devoid of a sense of humor and completely strashno.com has no interest in mocking you. In short, to score and mind your own business is the best way out. When it matures, then it matures. nine0003
At some second, the answer comes by itself . It floats like a bubble on the surface of a pond. However, there are also nuances.
First, since the answer may be figurative, it is not guaranteed that you will immediately fully understand it. Although you are talking to yourself, so the lack of understanding means only one thing: you do not want to understand.
Secondly, as you can already understand, the answer comes honest and objective, and therefore you may not like it very much.
As an example:
I had a fight with a guy. I understood that it would not work to maintain a relationship for a long time, we would scatter soon. Soberly, with reason, I understood that his behavior was to blame: optionality, childish whims, disrespect for me. The person was not the type to be trusted with an apartment, a wallet or a child, but all the same, strashno.com was very afraid of the gap.
While meditating she asked: "What should I do with him?" And I heard two answers, apparently from both of my angels, from white and black.
First voice: “Run away from him! You have different paths." nine0003
Second voice: "Complain about your relatives." Like, getting him into a protective role might work.
I didn't want to break the relationship. So I listened to the second voice. She complained about her drinking sister and her mother's tantrums.
It worked. For a short time. As a result, everything came to another turn of the spiral, when the guy first behaved like a knight, and then became like a capricious child. So the first vote was right.
Author: Agyluzudy
Yoga: what is meditation: zapzap — LiveJournal
Yoga: what is meditation? ?- Esoteric
- Health
- Cancel
Let's talk about it. nine0011 WHAT IT IS: you already know it is focus. When we limit our attention to any clear object. For example, you can observe objects outside: a sunset, a painted dot, or a candle flame. Or behind an object within: a breath, a heartbeat, or a sensation in the body. In this way, we limit the mind from jumping from one thought to another, deliberately directing it to the object of meditation.
WHY IT IS: For many people the mind causes anxiety and even suffering. Too many thoughts! Hey, somebody turn my head off! Meditation is such a disconnect. Want less thoughts? Give your mind less reason to think. As long as you are watching your heartbeat, you have no reason to be sad or happy. If you do start to worry or rejoice, then your mind has a habit of doing it. That is, you do it regardless of what happens to you, but simply because you are used to it! Do you understand what I'm getting at? These emotions are "ordered" by your mind! nine0003
PROFIT: practicing meditation even for a few minutes a day, you will feel much more balanced person - verified.
